A New World:A Buffy Continuation Episode One
by Blonde Badger
Summary: The Slayers have relocated to Cleveland, But with Buffy, Willow and Giles in Europe, who's been put in charge of a school full of Slayers. The One who sees and the Dark Slayer. First in a Series.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Buffy Faith or Xander, It's a shame I know but I think they're better in Joss's hands than mine.

* * *

B'Knee was not the worst of demons, but he tried his best. He terrorized any humans he came across, partook in weekly human feasts every 4th Friday with his tribe, spent most of his spare time trying to work out how to bring about an Apocalypse which would aid his clan over all the other demon tribes working in Cleveland, and started every day with a nice bowl of kittens.

He'd woken up this evening all full of the joys of a fresh massacre. K'tari had gotten permission to go ahead with the ritual they'd been working on for the past few months. He'd has his breakfast, particularly enjoying the fur, shrugged on his ceremonial robes and headed down into the sewers. After trekking through the underground streets, whistling the latest tune the lovely pop starlet had recently released, he soon arrived at the location for tonights meeting.

His tribe mates were milling around waiting for K'tari to arrive when B'Knee entered into the vast underground chamber. They'd carefully selected this place, the perfect melding of the leylines of the hellmouth for the ceremony to bring their Primarch through to this world.

"Tonight! A New World will Begin! With the arrival of our Primarch, the true blood of our clan we will conquer this word! We will smite those who-" At this point B'Knee pretty much zoned out, he'd heard this speech a dozen or more times. Hell, he'd been there when K'tari had been practicing the speech, desperate to whip the rest of his tribe into the appropriate amount of religious frenzy. "Let us Begin!" As K'tari finished his speech B'Knee and the other Demons moved into position over the alter they'd prepared the previous evening. There were 12 in total of them, each at the specific position necessary to channel the energy of Cleveland's Hell Mouth to the Center, where K'tari was, even now, preparing himself to open the gateway to their progenitors home dimension.

"Sorme, Deniroth, Sorme Deniroth, Sorme Deniroth-"

"Yo! Pin Heads!" B'Knee and the other demon's looked up. The Manhole Cover of their chamber had been moved. "Can ya Keep the noise down? It's kinda Late" Above them was a girl, early twenties long brown hair, a worthy sacrifice if B'Knee was any judge, except for that grin, there was something positively...wicked about that grin. Behind the girl he could see several other figures silhouetted against the street lamps. B'Knee saw the girl jump, land, and then there was only pain, blood, more pain, the sensation of being thrown through the air and eventually death.

**--A New World--**

**A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Continuation.**

* * *

The Curzon hotel opened up in the 1930s as one of the most luxurious hotels of the city. At 30 floors high it was an impressive sight when it first opened, and was capable of hosting upwards of 600 guests, as well as the spacious rooms it possessed a number of larger banquet halls and, if opening figures were any indication, it was well on it's way of becoming one of Cleveland's most popular hotels.

It continued to do excellent business right up until the mid 1950s. At which point it was discovered that the hotel was the front for the Parelli family of Cleveland. The Hotel was soon sold off to pay for the family's rapidly increasing legal costs to a Mr J S Sorbo. Mr Sorbo originally purchased the land planning on tearing down the hotel and making room for one of his pancake franchises, unfortunately the City Council designated the Curzon a historical landmark and Mr Sorbo was forced to leave it exactly as he bought it..

When a previously unknown group known as the Watcher Foundation offered to purchase the hotel and it's surrounding property, up front and, if necessary, in cash, Mr Sorbo's son jumped at the opportunity to be rid of the waste of space.

Faith could feel a Migraine coming on. It wasn't that she didn't love the girls behind her. It wasn't even that she was unhappy with her position in the foundation. The problem was that it wasn't that big a mini-buss, and the girls behind her well...were...giddy. As field trips go this was a necessary one but still a headache inducing one. As the bus pulled into the drive of the hotel she allowed a sigh of relief to escape her. They'd done pretty well all things considered. Morrie had gotten a little too over enthusiastic when pummeling on one of the demons and hadn't noticed another creeping up on her, and Phoebe could do with a bit more confidence when it came to wading into the thick of things but on the whole she couldn't' complain about their performance.

Shifting into reverse gear she parked the van next to two identical looking ones and turned back to her charges "Alright! Everyone Out!" She could feel her headache worsen. If she'd thought the girls were bad now they seemed to get a sugar rush from somewhere when they realized they would get to share their stories with their fellow Slayers. Shrugging into her Leather Jacket the brunette pressed the button to lock the van and went back to slide the gate shut locking the hotel away from the outside world.

As she sauntered up the drive to the foyer of the hotel she ran over the events which had caused her, of all people, to be the leading Slayer of this little fun house.

* * *

**6 months earlier**

"Us?!" Alexander Lavelle Harris. Carpenter, Vampire Hunter, Driver, Zeppo, The One Who Seas..Only nowadays? Not so much, thank you Mr "I-Hate-All-Women-Especially-Slayers-Caleb". "You've gotta be jokin' G-man" He and Faith stood side by side in the watcher's office. They'd purchased the Curzon a fortnight before and were still in the middle of getting settled in when Giles had asked the Slayer and young man for a quiet word.

"I can assure you Xander that I am not 'jokin'' . As you well know Buffy is going undercover to Europe to track down this Immortal individual, Willow is currently investigating any long term affects of the awakening spell in England and I am going to be trying to locate more Slayers and offer them training here at the Foundation."

"But what about Robin?" Faith looked at the head of the Watcher Foundation with a similar expression of shock and disbelief to that etched onto Xander's face. "Why not him?" Xander nodded along with the Slayer.

"Because" the British man smiled tolerantly, "Mr Wood has neither the experience necessary for this role, nor the patience to deal with a school full of Slayers"

"And we can?" Xander tried his hardest but a note of disbelief stole into his voice.

"I truly believe that out of all of the most experienced people in our group that the pair of you would be the best to manage these girl's lives and ensure that they are taught what they need to know in order to survive."

"Bu-" Xander was interrupted by the older man fixing him with his most steely gaze.

"Faith, would you please excuse us for a few moments." An expression of relief flickered across her eyes at Gile's words. She flashed Xander a grin, exactly the same kind of grin that Harmony had flashed him in 2nd grade when Mr Curtis believed her word over Xander's. When the door clicked shut the elder Watcher's expression thawed some. "Xander, please sit down." he gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. As the younger man sat in front of the Watcher Giles steepled his fingers in front of him."You seem to believe that this is some kind of punishment I am forcing onto you."

"It's not that..."

"What then?"

"It's just..leadership thing. That's not me. You want someone to fix a door, or a cupboard, you want someone to get the take out or to find the one way of truly messing up an easy spell then, yeah. Call on me, That I can do no problems but..Leading? Training Slayers? Me. I'm no watcher..I can't do that kind of thing, unless by watching you're talking about sitting back and actually, y'know. Watching people do work while I sit back and relax." Giles sat back and let the young man continue blabbering to himself.

"Have you quite finished?" Not waiting for an answer Giles continued on. "Xander, in the years I have known you it is quite possible that no-one else has put as much on the line to risk the protection of Slayers and people he cares about. You ventured into the lair of one of the most dangerous Vampires of all time, accompanied only by a man you don't trust, You've stood toe to toe against the man when your fears became real, You've led children against a demon and his minions and won..and all of that was before you graduated High School. Don't tell me you are just "Someone to fix a cupboard". I truly believe there is no better person to lead these young women into the world we have opened up to them." Xander opened his mouth as if wanting to say something and managed to complete a passable impression of a goldfish for several moments before croaking out

"Thank you" Giles nodded in response and for several seconds a companionable silence permeated the room.

"Between yourself and Faith I feel that you will give these girls the education necessary for them to survive in the outside world. Which brings up the other part of this offer. I understand that you may have...reservations regarding working with her but I do believe she needs this."Xander raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Faith? I didn't think she needed anything?" The Englishman shook his head.

"Faith is in a delicate place at the moment. When a person is fighting for their life it is very easy for self-destructive habits to be put on a hold in favor of survival, however when the risk is over..." The watcher trailed off.

"Then there's a chance that she'll backslide into the same habits" The Californian continued. Giles Nodded. "Well I can see the whole, keep her mind on something angle and I can see your point there but I'm not sure that she'll want to work with me on this job. We're not exactly on the best of terms."Giles nodded at the younger mans words.

"I understand your point of view but...I would suggest trying to resolve any difficulties you might have with Miss Lehane. The pair of you might have more in common than you realize. Alone she would not be suitable for the sole roll as head teacher at the foundation..but together... I believe the pair of you will aid many of our young charges. May I have your word that you will at least think about my offer?" Xander nodded at the Watcher, seemingly deep in thought. "Capital."

* * *

High above the foyer Faith looked down at the group of Slayers milling around in the entrance hall carrying the supplies Andrew had insisted he needed to make the Kitchen up to standard while the small geek desperately tried to make himself heard while directing the Slayers. Taking another drag from her cigerate Faith leaned onto the balcony her hair hanging over the edge.

"As I understood, smoking was made illegal within common areas in hotels" Faith glanced over to see the Englishman standing a short distance from her. She flashed her best like-I-care grin back at him.

"Nah, It's good. I know the owner of this place. He'll let me get away with anythin'"

"Ah. Good, I'd hate to think you were getting in trouble."

"Night's still young G" she said with a leer. Giles returned the grin with a stare which seemed to say 'Moving-On'.

"I wished to talk with you regarding our earlier discussion" Giles Joined her at the edge of the Balcony looking down to where Andrew had finally managed to direct some of the girls to the gigantic kitchen the hotel housed. "Have you thought about the offer I made?"Faith blew a smoke ring out into the air above the foyer.

"Shit G, I'm no teacher, B, Red, hell even Harris, they're teachers, they can tell 'em what good little Slayers needs to do to stay out of trouble and slay the vamp's all proper like. Me? I'll just get 'em in same shit I ran into." the Bostonian glared into space. "Trust me, I'm not your girl."Giles removed his glasses and set to cleaning them against his handkerchief.

"Well, that's an interesting perspective even if it's not one I particularly agree with."Faith spun around to the Englishman a snarl forming on her lips.

"The Hell you say! Look at the hash I made of this 'gift'. Let's see." She began to count off on her fingers "One, got my watcher killed, Two, was too chickenshit to finish the fight, Three, Killed a man, Four, Tried to kill Harris" Giles could swear he could hear a slight waiver in her voice at that one. "Five, Joined up with a Demon who wanted to kill a town." She held her hand up for a moment before letting it fall to her side. "I could go on but what's the damned point. You want someone like that teachin' the baby Slayers what to do?" She flicked her cigerate over the balcony watching it until it landed in one of the plant pots in the entrance hall below.

"What I want, is someone who has walked that path but has come back from it. Look at those girls down there. Do you truly think that none of them will experience the temptations you've gone through, that none of them will make the mistakes you've made. If and when that happens do you really think that Buffy, or Willow or Xander would be the best person to confront them regarding that? Or do you think that the best person would be one who has gone through that themselves." The Watcher stared across at the Slayer as the Slayer stared down at her feet.

"Harris might" she mumbled. Giles almost felt like smiling at that but managed to resist the urge.

"It's possible that Xander may be able to help in those situations, but I doubt it would be as genuine as coming from your mouth." Giles Paused for several seconds contemplating his next words. "And I doubt Xander would step forward to help unless you were working with him."Faith's head swung round to the watcher, confusion evident in her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" On the ground floor Xander had walked out onto the entrance hall and was trying to calm Andrew down and direct the Slayers to the kitchen to drop off their loads. Giles looked down on the foyer with a small smile.

"As you are no doubt aware I am extremely fond of young Mr Harris. And I also have the utmost faith in his abilities, unfortunately Mr Harris himself has little faith in said abilities. Far too often he will be prepared to take a back seat in affairs or attempt to play down his role or helpfulness in a situation. In this instance, if he, and yourself, do decide to become head-teachers here then this will not be an acceptable situation. Without someone there to force the decisions and choices onto Mr Harris, and to reassure him that he is doing the right thing I do not feel that, at this point, he would be suitable for a roll as a teacher." Faith stared down at the Foyer where the Slayers had all been ushered into the Kitchen with their deliveries, Andrew could be heard squeaking from the Kitchen, the only person left was Xander. He glanced this way and that before nodding in satisfaction and moving on to his next self-appointed task. "

"I'll think about it. 'Kay?" With a slight smile Giles nodded.

* * *

Faith had been looking for the one-eyed carpenter for half an hour when she eventually found him standing on the roof of the hotel, one foot raised to stand on the ledge as he stared across the city. Walking up to him she folded her arms against the cold and stared off into the distance. For several moments neither of the veterans spoke, content to simply be with their thoughts and the air. Eventually the relative silence was broken by Xander.

"Did Giles talk to you about...this..whole, y'know, teacher thing?" Faith nodded.

"Yeah, gave me a mini lecture about stoppin' girls followin' me down my fun filled path. What do you think?"

"Well...I can understand why he'd want you here. Kick ass moves, field experience, able to teach about what it means to be a Slayer."Xander looked down at the street. The Sun was slowly falling below the horizon and the people on the streets were rushing this way and that to get home before nightfall. "But me? The G-man probably just wants to keep me out of trouble or somethin'. Think Wood would be a better choice personally." Faith felt a small grin flash across her mouth. 'Damn G was perspective sometimes'

"Nah, trust me. To lead this lot? Make sure they don't just turn into 'point an' kill' weapons we need someone like you in charge. Robin'd be great at makin' sure everyones tip top and military like but, to actually raise 'em to be people..make 'em more than just Slayers. He wouldn't be able to do that. For this Job G's right. We need you." Xander turned to look at his companion.

"R-really?" he flashed a grin at her. "That 'We need you' sounds an awful lot like you've already made up your mind on the matter." Faith smirked back at him.

"It's a two or nothin' deal X. They want both of us or neither. And Hell, I'm game if you are. She extended her hand out to him. "Ready to utterly corrupt and mess up the next generation?" with a grin Xander took her hand.

* * *

**Present Day**

Faith pushed the door open and walked into the hotel. It hadn't taken them long to get into their new roles of head-teachers. Within a week of telling Giles that they'd accepted his offer Buffy and the Watcher had made their farewells and departed for Europe leaving the Bostonian and the Carpenter in charge.

The priority, as Xander saw it at least. Had been to set some sort of infrastructure in place. Utilizing the vast amount of man-power he had at his disposal he'd set to transforming the run down hotel into a proper school. Bedrooms on the first 10 floors were renovated and transformed into dorm rooms, the banquet halls had been changed into a series of classrooms, training areas and one large communal dining hall.

Once they'd got the building into a place where people could safely live in, the Head-teachers set to designing lesson plans. Faith would cover combat, Andrew, much to his reluctance, would lecture the rookie Slayers on demonology and ancient language and Xander would teach them on tactics, as well as helping Faith as a punching bag. Things had been going pretty well at "Professor Harris' school for Gifted Youngsters", as Andrew referred to it, up until 3 months ago. Both Xander and Faith led field trips out to Cleveland for the most experienced Slayers, patrolling cemeteries and the club districts on the look out for any Vamp Action. They'd taken turns alternating patrols between them until that night 3 months ago...

* * *

**Three Months Earlier**

Faith pushed the double doors of the emergency room with a face like thunder, Dawn hurrying behind her seemingly on the verge of tears. As she rounded a corner she came across the 6 young Slayers sitting in the corridor outside of a door.

"What. The Hell. Happened" She growled out at the girls. There was no response and Faith could feel her temper rising. "I said-"

"U-um. M-mr Harris was leading the patrol when we came across a d-demon attacking this g-g-girl. We moved up to engage and we thought we were doin' well" Faith's eyes narrowed at this and the girl, seeing this hurried on"We'd gotten the victim away and were fighting this thing when it...I dunno..unleashed this shockwave thing, knocked us all flying. It was about to stamp on Carol" Faith's eyes darted to the girl sitting next to the talker who had her head buried in her hands" W-When Mr Harris was there. Stabbing the thing in the neck with that sword thing of his."

"Long Sword" Faith felt the teacher in her automatically correct.

"Right, the thing started bleeding, blood flying from it's mouth and everything. We thought it was done for but it swung one of it's arms back and did that shockwave thing again sending M-Mr Harris into the wall. W-We couldn't wake him up and he'd started bleeding from his mouth. It was then that we called the Ambulance.."

Faith felt her expression soften. This wasn't their fault, they'd done everything by the book. Everything exactly as they'd been told to do. She looked round to see Dawn trying to console Carol and for a moment their eyes met. Pulling a cell phone from her pocket she rang back to the Curzon. After a few moments Andrew answered. "Andrew, I need you to get the spare bus and come over to St Courtney's on 5th street. We need you to pick up the girls." Before the demonologist had a chance to argue she hung up and looked for a doctor. Not seeing one nearby she began stalking up the corridor. Eventually she came across the reception.

"Can I help you miss?" The receptionist greeted her with a smile which made Faith feel unusually violent.

"Yeah, My Friend. Xander Harris. He came in an hour ago. Where is he?"

"I'm afraid I cannot release that information."

"What?"

"I'm afraid I cannot release that information to anyone except a member of Mr Harris's family." Faith could once again feel her temper increasing. It was days like this she thought the universe really did want her to just start punching and not stop.

"Now you listen here-"

"I think you will find if you open Mr Harris's personal records registered with this hospital that both Miss Lehane and myself are registered as Mr Harris' next of kin." Faith spun around to see a rather annoyed looking Dawn Summers staring at the receptionist with a firm glare on her face. She could swear that the receptionist's smile dropped for a moment before she reluctantly tapped on her keyboard. After a few moments she looked up at the pair.

"ID?" Both Faith and Dawn passed over some ID and the receptionist nodded irritably. "He's in room 23A."

"Thank you so much" Faith sneered to the receptionist as they walked away from the desk."Nice move Pip, how'd you know we were on there?" Dawn flashed a quick smile at the Slayer.

"You and Xander might keep the student's under control, but I'm the one who makes sure everyones registered with hospitals, makes sure we pay the bills,keeps the building running and makes sure Andy stays in budget for food."

"Huh, Since when?"

"Xander asked me to when you guys were put in charge, I was a bit down that I was being left with nothing to do when Giles and Buff left."

"So that whole thing back there...?"

"Who do you think organized the medical you went through a couple of months ago? You're the same as him. You've got me, Andy and Xander down as next of Kin same as he has." They had reached the door marked as 23A just as a Doctor was leaving.

"Hey Doc, what's the story?" The Doctor checked his clipboard scanning over the paperwork.

"And you are...?"

"Faith Lehane,"

"Ah, good. Mr Harris is now stable, although he did receive sever bruising to his kidneys and has broken 3 of his ribs. He has also received a concussion but we do believe he will recover."

"He awake?" The slight flicker across the doctors face told Faith that, Yes, he was awake and had already began to annoy the Doctor.

"He Is. We will require someone to fill in his insurance details." Dawn rested her hand on the Slayers shoulder.

"I'll do that. You go and see him. I'll let Andy and the others know he'll be okay." Faith nodded as the Doctor and Key walked back down towards reception. Taking a deep breath she pushed open the door.

* * *

"You Stupid Jackass!" Faith stormed into the room causing the carpenter's head to shoot up from his pillow.

"And a big hospital hello to you too Faith."

"What the hell do you think you were doing getting up close with an Fr'chli demon?"

"There was a slight problem with him about to turn Carol into a small pile of Slayer mush at the time."

"And so you thought the best course of action would be to get into melee range with that thing!?"

"They needed a distraction. A lethal throat wound seemed to distract it quite a bit." Faith spent the next few minutes telling Xander what she thought of him in explicit detail before finally sitting on the end of the bed staring at the wall.

"This is not going to happen again." The grin that formed while he was being sworn at faded from Xander's face.

"What do you mean?"Faith sighed and looked at the one-eyed man.

"This. As of now I'm barring you from patrolling."

"What!? What gives you the right to do that?!"

"You did. When we first started doing this you said that I would be in charge of patrolling, duty rosters and any Apocalypsy Action. This is my call, I'm barring you."

"But this is nothing. I'll be up and running in a couple of weeks."

"And the next time? You could have died today. We're not having a head-teacher dieing in this school." Xander held up a finger to interrupt Faith.

"Aha, does that mean you're not going to patrol any more?" Faith shook her head. "Then how come you're allowed to Patrol and I'm not."

"Because I'm better than you."Faith stood up and folded her arms while looking at her friend. "I'm faster, I'm stronger, I'm better trained, I can take more punishment."

"Well that's hardly fair" Xander grumbled to himself. Faith couldn't help the smile spreading across her face.

"I'll make you a deal X. You beat me, in a one on one fight, any hand-to-hand weapons you want and you can patrol again."

"That it? Pfft. I'll be back on the streets before the months out."

* * *

**Present Day**

Andrew was screeching at the Slayers who'd just come in about leaving muddy foot prints in the foyer and was directing them back to the entrance where Faith had just stopped brushing the dirt from her shoes. She clapped him on his shoulder as she walked past towards the back of the building.

When Giles had been in charge, his office had been originally the office of the hotel manager. With Faith and Xander in charge they'd decided to go for something a little more practical. Well, Faith called it practical, Xander said Faith just liked the idea of claiming the area which had been the bar for herself.

She pushed open the door grinning momentarily at the sign someone had taped to the window saying "BEWARE OF THE SLAYER" It was a game of theirs. Grabbing a large felt tipped pen she drew a line through the word 'SLAYER' and replaced it with 'WATCHER'. On either side of the door were two desks, each facing the other. Neither desk was what you could call organized. The one on the left had a variety of papers titled "The most effective weapon and why" and a number of empty beer bottles scattered over it. The one on the right had a few comic books and lots of diagrams of warehouses heavily annotated to show potential avenues of attack, each with a Slayer's name on the top.

Towards the back of the room was a set of weights and a punching bag and a few book cases scattered around. Against the back wall was another pair of desks. The one on the Right had a mountain of comic books, novels, and other geekish paraphernalia scattered everywhere, but, in contrast to the rest of the novels several large leather bound books written in a spidery script. The final desk was the most organized of the bunch. The only one of the four to have a computer, an in and out tray and pencil holder. it wouldn't have looked out of place in any office in the world. Sitting at that desk was Dawn Summers, staring at the computer screen.

"Yo Pip, what's shakin'" Dawn looked up at the Slayer and flashed her a nervous grin.

"Erm..Nothing, Nothing Much. Just going over the latest reports and..um things." Dawn franticly typed on her Keyboard as Faith wandered around the desk to take a look at what she was doing. Sure enough on her screen was a list of reports and observations, some of which she'd even wrote herself.

"What's that thing?" Faith pointed to the Icon at the bottom of the screen, a large 'W' in a black circle with a Grin.

"Oh that?" Dawn laughed nervously. "Erm...Websters Online Demonic Archive System. Yes. New program we're trying."

"Oh really?" Faith shot a smirk at the administrator. "Cool. Xander out back?" Dawn nodded in silence going slightly red. Faith turned towards the back exit of the teachers lounge and, when she reached the door, shouted back, "Remind me to look up a 'Felguard' on that thing later" When she heard the embarrassed squeak from her friend she closed the door with a bark of laughter. She stepped out into the cold night air and looked around. Xander had claimed this area for his own. Wood had been stacked against a working bench and tools lay scattered around Xander's latest project but of the Carpenter himself there was no sign. Snatching up a screwdriver she span around to block the downward swing of the sword flying towards her.

"Nice try" She said flashing a grin at her attacker. "But this 'surprise-attack' streak of yours is gettin' more than a little borin' X."The Carpenter bounced back from the parry and began to circle the Slayer as she in turn began to circle him.

"Can't blame a guy for tryin'" Xander's eye twinkled with mirth as he dropped back into the ready position, his sword pointing up at about 45 degrees to the Slayer. Throwing the screwdriver like a dart into a nearby piece of wood. Faith dropped into her own fighting stance. The two warriors continued circling each other for several moments before, almost simultaneously, both fighters moved forward. Xander shuffled forwards with a series of feints designed to misdirect. The Slayer skipped forward a couple of meters before jumping up to execute a roundhouse kick. Abandoning his swordplay Xander dropped down, aiming a kick at Faith's other leg. He felt it connect before being knocked to the side as her other leg continued on it's path and caught him on his blind left side.

The man let himself roll across the yard, using the momentum of the blow to move him to a safer location, before coming up with his sword in a defensive pose. 'He's getting better' Faith thought as she lunged after him. She unleashed a flurry of blows at him but her friend managed to get that blasted sword in the way each time. Every time her skin touched the metal it was as if all the force of her blow was leeched away from her.'When we first started fighting like this the fight would have already been over.' Backing away from him for a few minutes she let the man catch his breath.

"You were right about Dawn by the way."

"Oh..right...about..what?"Xander panted.

"She's playin' that game Andrew's fixated on."

"You..caught..her?"Faith began circling her opponent like a panther, a predatory grin on her face.

"Nah, she switched the screen before I could get a good look." Xander span slowly to make sure his eye was on Faith.

"Wonder if Andrew knows"

"Maybe..." As the words left her mouth Faith made a dart forward and Xander in turn span to follow her just as the Slayer lept back so he over shot where she was. He desperately turned to try and find the woman but soon felt the hand on his shoulder. "You Lose."

"Damnit" Xander sighed in disappointment. He turned to see Faith smirking at him.

"You're getting' better X-man. Soon you'll be able to take Andrew in a fight." Xander rolled his eyes as he went back to his work bench opening a bottle of water. He was half expecting this part of the fight. The taunting. He took another swig from the bottle as Faith paraded behind him, listing various people he would one day be able to beat if he tried harder. She'd just gotten onto the subject of one day being able to deliver a damned good thrashing to a kitten when she began to cough. Xander payed her no mind, looking over the plans on her desk.

"Xander?" He turned around to look at the Slayer. She was staring at her hand. "What's wrong with me?" She held her hand out to him and the palm, where she'd covered her cough, was splattered with dark red blood. "I'-I don't feel so good." With that she fell to the floor.

To be continued.

* * *

**Authors Notes**

This is the start of a continuation series I have planned, while Faith and Xander will be important characters the rest of the gang will be showing up soon enough. Please, let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Just playing.**

**Authors Note: Please forgive the slight retcon I've made to the Story. Xander's sword is a Longsword, not a Rapier. First Chapter has now been edited.**

* * *

"Faith! Faith!" Xander rushed up to fallen Slayer pressing a hand against her neck to check her pulse. It was hammering as if the girl had just ran a marathon. He heard the door that linked his yard to the staff room.

"Xander, we've got trou-Faith! What's happened" Dawn rushed down the steps and crouched down to Xander's level.

"She just collapsed. She coughed up some blood and then..." Dawn shook her head.

"Just like the others."

"Others?" Xander looked across at the Key questioningly.

"We've got three Slayers in the main foyer who've done the same thing. Not sure how many across the building.." Xander gathered the fallen Slayer into his arms.

"Get the other Slayers to check all the rooms we're using. I want every Slayer suffering from this in the Violet room as soon as possible." Dawn nodded and rushed through the door. Xander followed behind her, quick on her heels. "Andrew, get as many cots as we need. Bring 'em to the Violet room. Take who you need. You three " He nodded at a group of frightened looking Slayers cowering slightly "Grab Gemma, Angela and Morrie, follow me." The three girls stood where they were, looking at the fallen Slayers with something akin to fear."NOW" He bellowed. As the three fallen were gathered up Xander jogged towards the Violet room. It was one of the conference halls that they'd cleaned up but hadn't found a use for yet.

"We've got reports of 7 more on other floors" Dawn shouted into the room.

"Get 'em down here as quickly as possible and tell Andrew to hurry up with those damned cots." Dawn scurried out. Looking over to the three Slayers. "Lay 'em down, but be careful." He gradually lowered the Bostonian Slayer to the floor."ANDREW!"

"We're here. We're here." The smaller teacher rushed leading a troupe of Slayer each ladened down with several of the collapsible cots.

"Right, Andrew, you're in charge, get all Slayers wrapped up and in a bunk, designate one person to watch each victim of this." With one last look at Faith, Xander stormed out of the makeshift infirmary with fire in his eyes.

* * *

"Yes, I am fully aware of what time it is, But you tell Doctor Atkins that if he wants to get that retainer we pay him then he gets his ass down here now!" The carpenter slammed the phone down.

"Making a friend?" Xander turned to Dawn.

"How're they doing?"

"Same with all of them. Running a fever, heart running at a mile a minute, coughing up blood." She looked across at the older man."Andy...Andy thinks that this is magical."

"I know." Xander said looking back at the Key. "I'm not getting' the Doctor to tell us what this is. The Doctor's coming to try and keep 'em comfortable." Xander reached into his desk and pulled out a belt and scabbard.

"What're you doing?"

"You remember saying you thought we should get to know the local occult community." He pulled on a thick gray trench coat and tucked a pair of stakes into the back of his waistband.

"Yes?" Dawn answered hesitatingly. Xander slid the sword into the scabbard.

"I'm going to have a word with the neighbors."

* * *

Kittle's was an occult bar, it served kittens for various demons, blood in 7 different varieties as well as a popular concoction called the Mana Charge which was popular with most of the cities practicing witches and sorcerers. Most of the bar was taken up with a variety of booths but a large number of demons sat against the bar chatting about the latest Indians game.

Sometimes drama just has a good sense of timing.

As thunder cracked down from the sky the door swung open and Xander stepped through the door. Xander felt every eye in the bar turn to him.

On another day this might have freaked him out or made him nervous. But today? Today someone had attacked his girls...and he'd be damned if he let anyone get away with that. He pulled up a stool and sat up at the bar. The barmen, apparently human, sauntered up to the Californian with a fair amount of caution.

"What'll it be?"

"Scotch. Neat. And some information." The Barmen hastily poured the amber liquid into a tumbler.

"What Kind of information?"

"I need a healer. Some friends of mine have been hit by some kind of plague spell. I need to find someone who can heal magical sickness." The Barman cleaned a glass staring across at him.

"What kind of sickness?"

"Do you need to know that to recommend someone?" The barman glared at the man in front of him.

"What's it worth?" The one eyed man dropped a 100 bill onto the bar.

"This, and my promise not to come in here with a small army at my back to ask some very difficult questions." Xander stared across at the man.

"I know this guy...calls himself Gambler. Big shot mage. If anyone can cure this..sickness of yours then he can." The barman scribbled down a note and passed it to the carpenter. Xander nodded, knocked back his drink and stalked back to the door.

"Hey!" A large dark green demon stood up, he pointed a clawed finger at the departing man."Who do you think you are to come in here and start asking questions and threatening us? Where the hell did you blow in from?" Xander turned to look at the demon for a long moment.

"Sunnydale" He turned on his heels and stormed out into the rain.

"Oh..Crap" muttered the suddenly shocked demon sitting down.

* * *

'I am definitely in the wrong line of work' Xander thought looking up at the building before him. The building before him was set in one of the nicer parts of town, compared to the buildings on either side of it there was a definite Gothic feel to this place. High arching windows, elaborately forged Spikes on the gate that separated the property from the street, and, underneath each of the windows a gargoyle grinning down at him.

Pushing open the creaking gate Xander made his way up the short path to the door of the large house. A brass plaque on the door read "Thelonius Gambler – Expert." Turning his collar up against the rain Xander knocked twice against the door. After a couple of minutes the door was opened with a slow creak.

"May I help you Mr...?" Before Xander stood a man in his sixties, hair receding and gray, a thick mustache and a distinct air, if Xander was any judge, of snootishness. He was dressed in a tuxedo and almost sang 'Butler'.

"Harris, Alexander Harris. I was wondering if I could speak to Mr Gambler."

"I'm afraid it is very late and Mr Gambler has retired for the evening. Perhaps if you try to make an appointment tomorrow Mr Gambler will be able to make time for you." The Butler tried to close the door but it slammed into Xander's foot.

"I really really need to speak with Mr Gambler."

"Cedric." From behind the butler Xander saw a man descending down the stairs. Cleanly shaven, with his hair slicked back from his forehead, he appeared to be in his early thirties. Clad in a suit of deep purple over a collarless white shirt he certainly made Xander, wearing his wet jeans and shirt, underdressed. Obscuring the man's eyes were a pair of sun glasses of the same shade as the man's suit. "Let the man into my study." The butler nodded to his master and allowed Xander into the house. The man, Mr Gambler if Xander was any judge, walked past them to a room on their left.

"May I take your coat Mr Harris?" Xander shrugged out of the soaking coat and passed it to the butler. The older man nodded slowly and led Xander through to the room he'd just seen the man in purple enter. Inside of the room, the elegantly dressed individual sat behind a large hardwood desk in an elaborately carved chair. The walls on the room were covered with more books than Xander had seen in one place since the destruction of Sunnydale High. In front of the desks were a pair of arm chairs, each of which looked like they cost more than Xander had made in a year.

"Now then...Mr Harris was it?" May I ask what I can do for you this evening." Xander cleared his throat.

"I..I've been advised to come to you with a problem. Some friends of mine..they've become sick. It's not something..normal. We think there's a spell involved." Xander cleared his throat again. Something about this guy was freakin' him out.

"I see...and what would the nature of this sickness be?" The strange man's face was almost completely expressionless as he stared at the Carpenter.

"Coughing up blood, followed by collapsing immediately into unconsciousness, an increase in heart rate and body temperature." Xander felt the words come tumbling out from his mouth. Mr Gambler sat back in his chair staring at the ceiling ornamentation for several long moments before, getting more than a little impatient, Xander said "Mr Gambler?"

"Would I be correct in assuming that your friend is a member of the Slayer lineage?" he hadn't stopped staring at the ceiling once and even now his eyes seemed fixated on one of the chandeliers. Xander nodded and then realized the man wasn't looking at him.

"Ye-"

"I thought so. Terrible shame, sounds like your Slayer's come down with the Blight. Wouldn't worry bound to be another one called within a few days."

"The Blight?"

"Yes. Nasty bug. Killed 15 Slayers in succession in the thirteenth century. Don't believe the Watcher's ever did discover a way of inoculating against it." He looked across at Xander, peering over his sunglasses. "My advise would be to go home, wrap your Slayer up warm, try to keep her comfortable and, if she wakes provide her with as much pain medicine as recommended by current 'Doctors'"

"And that'll cure this Blight thing?" Xander looked at the man hopefully.

"What? Oh no, of course not. But you may as well make her comfortable before she dies." Xander felt the blood drain from his face.

"T-There's no cure?" Mr Gambler stood and walked to the door as if trying to usher the younger man out.

"There's a cure but it will be virtually impossible for you to provide it. No, much safer to wait for this Slayer to die and hope that the next one doesn't get infected."

"NO!" Xander slammed his fist down on the hardwood desk before him. "If there's a way you'd better damned well tell me what it is right now." His voice was like Ice and for several long moments there was nothing but silence.

"Very well" Mr Gambler walked over to one of the book shelves and retrieved a leather bound journal from the wall. Bringing it back to his desk he placed it upon the table and, with a gesture of his hand caused the book to flip open and start rushing through pages on it's own. "Ah, here we are. The Blight." He began to read. " 'The Blight is the name of both a creature and a disease most fowl. Found only to strike those with either the potential to become a Slayer or the Slayer herself. The demon emits a cloud of gas which quickly permeates the surrounding area. When this gas comes into contact with a Slayer or potential there is a momentary indication of infection in the form of a cough during which the infected coughs up blood. While there are recorded incidents of Slayers surviving this infection or being completely immune to the Blight these accounts are few and far between. In most cases this disease kills the infected within 24 hours of infection.'" The purple clad man paused for a moment glancing up at Xander who was still staring intently at him. He read on. "'The only notable way of saving a Slayer from this disease was found during the 12th century when Watcher Robin, to save his Slayer Marian from the Blight located the lair of the the demon underneath the largest midden in the land and, slaying the creature. He collected the blood of the demon and used this to cure his Slayer. "

"So what's the big deal, I just need to find this thing and kill it?" Mr Gambler looked across at the younger man with an expression of disbelief.

"Mr Harris, this is the Blight" he turned the book around to the carpenter holding open the page to show a woodcut of the creature. To Xander it looked like someone had taken the body of the incredible hulk and replaced it's head with an alarming amount of teeth and tongue. It's body appeared to be covered with sores and most of it's body seemed to be oozing slime. Xander swallowed nervously.

"So what's the big deal. I just need to find this thing and kill it." He sounded braver than he felt. Mr Gambler shook his head in disbelief.

"Yes. That's 'all'."

"You said midden didn't you? That's something like the sewers isn't it?" Mr Gambler nodded. "Right then." he made towards the front door.

"Mr Harris" he called after he departing youth. Xander turned to him."To slay a demon this strong you would need some kind of magic, an enchanted weapon of some description." The head-teacher flashed the purple clad man a darkly roguish grin.

"You think I carry this thing around for fashion?" He patted the sword at his side as he shrugged his damp coat on and walked into the night.

While Xander couldn't see it. Mr Gambler's eyes showed their first sign of surprise. He remained silent for a while deep in thought before pulling another book from the far wall, still sitting at his desk, drew it over to him with a gesture and started to read.

* * *

Xander pushed open the door of the Curzon just as the doctor rushed out. He put a hand at the older man's chest to stop him.

"Doc? What's the deal?" Atkins glared at the one eyed man. He was one of the most respected doctors in the country and this man kept talking to him like an indentured servant.

"High Blood Pressure, Fever..Severe Coughing fits" he rattled off a list of further symptoms which meant nothing to Xander. "I've not seen anything like this before but I've got a lab ready to run some tests." He snapped. Xander kept his hand where it was.

"And what're you doin' to get them better?"

"At this point nothing except keeping them comfortable. Without knowing what's wrong with them if I start prescribing anything it could do more harm than good." He pushed the younger man's hand away with a glare. "And the more time I spend talking to you the less time I have to get these tests done!" He pushed past Xander and walked down the steps towards the main gate.

"Doc. Let us know as soon as you know more but remember our deal..." The doctor gave the one eyed man another furious glare.

"I know damn you. Complete confidentiality...Any test results I find will go here and noone else." Xander gave the older man a dark smirk.

"And your 'parties' will be kept 'confidential', so your wife doesn't find out. Good. Your cheque'll be in the mail Doc." Swearing under his breath the doctor walked out of sight and Xander heard the familiar clang of the front gate shutting.

Xander walked through the front door of the hotel. The foyer was eerily quiet. Since they'd moved into the building this room had almost always been a bustle of activity. Between lessons there were always groups of Slayers hanging around talking, there were usually a few sparing or playing some sort of game which might have made sense to Xander if he were 8 years younger and a different gender. There would usually be some sound coming from the common room next door of the foyer, music, the sound of the television, an argument, but always noise..Today there was nothing except a faint cough. He shook his head. Shrugging out of his wet coat, Xander unbuckled his sword belt and laid it on the front desk. He made his way to the room they'd converted into a sick bay and was confronted by a sight which would haunt him for the rest of his days.

The Curzon hotel housed 42 Slayers in total...All bar 4 of them were lying in rows on the cots he'd had brought in earlier. Between the rows he could see Dawn, Andrew and the healthy Slayers running up and down, laying cold compresses on foreheads, providing drinks, checking their vitals. Periodically there would be a weak cough or a moan from one of the Slayers.

"Andrew." The demonologist looked up from the Slayer he was tending and walked over to Xander. "I need you to find out all you can on a creature called the Blight. Some kind of Plague demon."

"The Blight?" Andrew looked puzzled. "Is that the name of the demon or the disease?"

"Both. I need you to find out where it's likely to be. As fast as possible." Andrew nodded and sped off to his library. Xander picked up the cold compress from the bowl of icy water Andrew had left and laid the compress down on the Slayer Andrew had been tending to. He spent several minutes checking each of the Slayers in the area before he gradually made his way up to his fallen friend.

Faith lay there motionless. Someone, Xander suspected one of the other Slayers had changed her clothes and covered her with several blankets. Allowing himself a short rest Xander eased himself down to the floor and sat cross legged near her cot. Leaning forward he let his forehead rest against the metal frame of the cot. The cool metal felt good against his skin, it felt good just to be still and silent for a few moments. Running around in a storm in an open trench coat, shirt and jeans probably wasn't going to do wonders for his own health but at the moment he had higher priorities. He let a short cough out himself and quickly checked his own hand. No Blood. Good.

His attention was diverted by movement on the cot in front of him. Faith let out a quiet moan and moved slightly as if she was trying to fight something away. Reaching down Xander withdrew a cold cloth from the bowl of water and used it to wash the sweat away from the brunette Slayer's brow. At the touch of his skin on hers Faith quietened somewhat. Xander kept wiping her forehead until she finally returned to the relatively peaceful slumber of her earlier state, he left the cloth against her head. And looked at the woman before him. There was no way on earth he was going to let them die. Not a single one of them. With one last look at faith Xander pushed himself up and walked out of the room to the office he shared with the Others.

"Andrew. Give me some good news." Andrew looked up from his books. For a moment, with his wire-framed glasses perched on his nose and the reading light highlighting him Xander could have sworn he was looking at a younger clone of Giles.

"Some. You wanted to know where we could find this thing first didn't you?" Xander nodded. "Alrighty. This thing seems to really like...well...excrement." Xander raised an eyebrow. "Sewers. In the past it was usually found underneath midden's and stuff but today...He pulled out a map of the sewer system of the City. "My bet's here." He pointed at a nexus of pipes which seemed to be a large chamber. "It's where most of the cities sewage ends up before it gets to the processing plant."

"Alright." Xander said nodding and making to the door. He stopped as he realized that Andrew was following him. "Where are you going?" Andrew managed to look confused.

"With you?" Xander shook his head.

"No. You're not, you're going to stay here and try and find out anything about a way of killing it."

"But-"

"No buts. You're our best shot at working out what can stop this thing. "

"But-"

"No. I'm going to find this thing, I need you to tell me what can kill it..."'And I don't want to risk anyone else on this' he thought. He stormed ahead of Andrew, leaving him at the doorway to the office and had made his way to the entrance of the hotel, picking up sword and coat on the way.

"You have got to be shitting me!" He turned to see Dawn glaring at him from the doorway of the sick-room. Xander looked down at the ground with a sigh. "After the amount of times my sister did this to you? After how many times you moaned to me that you just wanted to help? After all of that you're still going to go off on your own?"

"Dawn..."

"No, You listen to me Xander! I've already put a call through to Giles he's on his way, we're going to research this proper, get a team of Slayers together and go down there and stop this."

"And what then? We bring a squad of Slayers into the city what happens to them? How long before they're too sick to do anything. They are dying Dawn! And if there is anything I can do to help, to stop this? Then you'd better believe that I will do it." He pushed the door open and stood, silhouetted against the rain.

"But why alone? Why can't Andy or I come with you?" she pleaded. Xander was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"All those times Buffy told me to stay out of danger, to stay back? I think I finally get why." With that he let the door close behind him and walked out into the rain. Dawn and Andrew exchanged a look before each returned to their tasks.

* * *

"Alright You're going to be coming up to an exit on your right in about 30 feet, you need to turn there and carry on for about 100 feet." Xander nodded, one hand pressing his cell phone to his ear, the other holding his sword in front of him. The Three foot blade was throwing off an eerie white glow which cast shadows along the sewers.

"Turning right." he followed Andrew's directions as accurately as possible. This was not somewhere he'd want to get lost, even if time wasn't a factor. "Dawn still pissed at me?"

"She is certainly not happy. But she's got her hands full taking care of the Slayers."

"What do you mean taking care of the Slayers?"

"Um..."

"Andrew?"

"You should be approaching a turning on your right in about 15 feet. You're going to need to go that way..."

"Andrew! What do you mean taki-" He followed the directions.

"They're getting worse." Xander swallowed. "They're all thrashing around and moaning." Xander let out a few choice expletives. "Yeah, so she's trying to get them calmed down and resting. But...well..it's hard going."

"Right."

"Xander I know you don't need more pressure but...we're not sure how much longer they have. I dunno what that guy told you but things are not looking good here." Walking in Silence Xander reached a fork in the paths, one heading right and one left.

"Andrew? Which way?"

"Um...Left..I think"

"You think?"

"These maps are hard to read!" Xander followed the younger man's advice and after 50 feet came across a large circular door with a turn wheel securing it.

"Alright. I'm at a door."

"Open it. That should be where you need to go." Xander put his phone into the pocket of his coat and leaned his still glowing sword against the wall of the passage way. With several swift turns he felt something give. Picking up his sword he pulled the door open and looked inside. After studying the inhabitant of the chamber for several moments Xander pulled the phone out from his pocket..

"Good job Andrew. Found it. I'll call you back if I'm alive." With a click Xander hung up his phone and stepped inside of the chamber with the Blight.

To be Continued.

* * *

**Authors Notes: Before anyone get's nervous No Mr Gambler is not going to be a Mary Sue character, yes there is a purpose behind him, Yes it'll get explained before the end of this episode. Thank you for some great reviews. Please, anyone who has some comments to improve my writing let me know.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Not Mine, But Enjoying Playing.**

**

* * *

**When Xander came to chronicle his encounter with the creature known as the Blight for the Watcher Diaries he described it as the ugliest thing he'd seen since he had the dream about Principal Snyder on Steroids. This was, of course, a fairly large understatement which on a later occasion caused to Giles to spend forty-five minutes lecturing Xander about the need for seriousness in the Diaries.

The Blight stood at approximately seven feet tall. What made it slightly more imposing was that, at it's shoulders, it appeared to be almost six feet wide. It's arms were like tree trunks, each ending in four wickedly clawed fingers. The size of the demon's hands looked big enough to cover a human's head. It's leg's, by comparison, were almost short stubby things, but still dwarfed Xander's own thigh's in size. They were half hidden by the sewage the Demon was wading in. As the carpenter watched, the demon reached down into the slime at it's feet, scooped up a handful and lifted it to it's maw.

Looking at the demon's face Xander felt himself pale a little. Most of the demon's he'd come up against in his career as demonic punching bag usually had the same facial structure of a human, two eyes, nose, mouth, that kind of thing. In this case it was a little different. The thing had a head like a sandwich grill, the joint rested a few inches above the things ludicrously muscled neck. It's jaw stretched about a foot in length and width and was filled with glistening sharp teeth. It had no eyes to speak of but between mouthful's of sewage the thing's tongue escaped it's mouth to waft gently around in the air.

Along the demon's back were six holes, each was a tight ring of muscle and periodically the demon would stop eating, seem to concentrate and would then emit a thick cloud of red gas. The gas would hover in the air for several moments before dissipating into the room and becoming colorless. If the thick layer of filth from lurking in Cleveland's sewer's wasn't enough Xander could see that pores all along the thing's luminescent green skin seemed to be oozing some thick slime or pus.

As quietly as possible Xander stepped into the chamber, he pulled the door shut, removed his trench coat and left it next to the door, and edged around the side of the chamber. There was a short lip of concrete all along the side walls which Xander followed. It seemed to be about 50 feet in Diameter and, if he was any judge, about 3 foot deep with the cities sewage. Spread across the rooms were a series of concrete pillars to keep up the ceiling. Two massive pipes lead into the room and a steady flow of waste flowed into the chamber.. With a mental command the light from his sword steadily began to diminish, leaving Xander just enough light to see by.

The monstrosities tongue shot out, 'that thing must be at least two foot long...Bad thoughts.' Xander reprimanded himself. 'Neither the time nor the place.' While the tongue slowly moved this way and that the Carpenter remained against the wall, trying to remain completely motionless. After a few seconds of tongue wagging the demon withdrew the appendage back into it's maw and resumed eating again. Allowing himself a small sigh of relief Xander resumed edging around the walls of the chamber. He'd made it about 15 feet before he saw that the ledge he had been walking along had crumbled. It was only for about a yard but even so, too far to simply step over. Glancing up at the Blight Xander saw that the demon was still preoccupied with it's meal and wasn't paying much attention to it's surroundings.

He had just reached one leg over the gap, his other still on the original side when the Blight's tongue shot out again, tasting the air. As positions for staying still go, having one foot on either side of a large gap is not known for being one of the best ways of standing. Xander managed to remain like that for several seconds before over balancing and falling forwards into the 'water' in front of him. With an almighty splash Xander landed face first into the water and came back up spluttering. To his credit he still managed to hold on to his sword. Against him though, he came up facing away from the demon.

The demon let loose and earth shattering roar and started to run towards Xander. It moved much like a gorilla, using it's giant arms to propel it across the chamber to the startled carpenter. Spinning around Xander managed to get his sword in the way of the demon's first swing, The Sword absorbed most of the kinetic energy of the blow harmlessly but Xander had to grip onto the long-sword with both hands to stop it being knocked across the chamber.

He stumbled backwards and rushed to the side as quickly as possible. Going toe to toe with a thing that size would be suicidal, and getting himself killed would accomplish nothing at this point. A Slayer or Vampire might be able to slug it out, but him? He might be damned good with his sword and might wield an enchanted weapon but he wasn't in the demon's league and he knew it. As he moved past it he let the glowing blade flash out cutting deep into the vile thing's flank. He kept running until he reached the center of the chamber. Standing below the only source of light Xander turned and faced the demon. Raising his sword again in the his 'ready' position.

As he watched the demon slowly turned. He watched, with a feeling of dread. as the wound in it's side slowly filled with the mucus which covered the beast and filled in the slash on the demon's flank.

"Oh Boy..." The demon barreled across at him with another charge.

* * *

"How's it looking?" Andrew jerked up from his book with a start. Leaning on his chair, peering at the book he was studying, Dawn had managed to approach him without the demonologist noticing her.

"Not good. I've been able to find references to it, indications of Slayer's who've died to it but I can't find how to actually kill the thing."

"So I'm guessing the old faithful 'cut it's head off' trick isn't goin' to work?" Andrew rubbed at his eyes. It felt like he hadn't stopped reading in days.

"It might do...But Xander won't be able to cut it. The thing's huge." He snapped the book in front of him shut and reached for another. 'The Anatomical Dissections of Demonic Species by Jedediah Smith' He flipped open the book and started flipping through the tome. Dawn rested her hands on his shoulders as he turned pages, looking more worried with every page. "How are the girls doing?" He asked, eyes still glued to the text. Dawn let out a sigh.

"Not good. It seems like there's a point when their body reaches the limit it can get to and from there it just stops." She stared past him at the book. "..I don't know what we can do." Andrew flashed her what, he hoped, was a reassuring frin. In Dawn's eyes it came off as a slightly unwell smile.

"Xander will save them. He won't give up..."his voice trailed off "Assuming I can find a way of killing the thing." Dawn smiled slightly sadly at the geek in front of her. Unconsciously she squeezed the young man's shoulders and was slightly surprised at how tense she found him to be. When the whole gang had been together Andrew seemed a little tightly wound, a little jumpy but now, with all the chips resting on him? She'd never seen him work himself up this much. Strong fingers began kneading away at the geeks muscles. Removing the tension she found there. The Key's smile widened slightly as she heard a low moan from Andrew as the tension was released.

The pair remained silent for several minutes, Andrew periodically turning a page and scanning through for any indication which might help him. Dawn massaging the tension out of her friend's neck and shoulders. Andrew turned another page and let out a sharp yell which made Dawn jump.

"I've got it!" He pointed excitedly to the page in front of him. A large drawing of what he guessed was the blight was on the page in front of him. Various lines lead to a spidery text which described the various parts of the demon. Andrew pulled out his mobile phone and called Xander, his hands shaking with excitement.

* * *

Though he was loathe to admit it Xander was starting to feel that maybe Faith had been right. Maybe he should have signed off from field duty. He'd been playing a game of cat and mouse with this thing for the past five minutes, blocking blows as best he could with his sword, slashing at the thing whenever the chance arose but mostly trying to stay alive. He'd been a fraction too slow with blocking one attack and the demon had managed to land one punch, with it's massive fist, which had crashed into the right side of his chest with an audible crack. It was hurting him when he breathed now. But on the plus side it seemed like old slime face was getting tired too. This had to be a good sign.

He and the demon were standing about 20 feet apart, both of them breathing heavily. Xander drew his sword up again to make another of the flank-attacks when the demon crouched down, stopped moving for a few moments and, after a second, let a cloud of gas out from it's back which quickly dissipated into the air. With that the demon raised it's head once more. It no longer looked tired and seemed to be almost smiling at him.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." The thing barreled towards him again. No longer trying to dodge Xander dropped his guard and sprinted to one of the pillars ducking behind it. This was just bloody typical. Just when he thought he was catching a break, that maybe he had a chance the universe had to go and proof him wrong once again. He took several deep breaths trying to recover some of his energy.

"_Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You? We got some work to do now. Scooby-Doo-_" Growling in frustration Xander pulled his phone out from his pocket. He really did need a new ring tone.

"Xander! Thank God, we thought you were dead!" Typical Andrew.

"What can you tell me Andrew?"

"Well it's quite fascinating to be honest, this demon's a literal factory just for the production of this plague" Xander could hear the thing getting closer.

"Yes Yes, that's all well and good, HOW DO I KILL IT!"

"I was just getting to that, there's no need to be so impatient you know I'm just trying to he-"

"ANDREW!"

"Alright! Well it's got the same weakness as the Death Star, all you need to do-" At that point Xander had to duck, a fist the size of his torso smashed through the stone pillar behind him and he dived forwards into the water. He felt the phone slip from his grasp into the brown 'water' of the chamber. Xander scrambled up and away from the demon running to the other end of the chamber. 'Death Star'? What the hell was he talking about?

* * *

"Death Star? What the hell were you talking about?" Dawn shrieked at Andrew.

* * *

Xander backed away from the beast his sword raised in front of him. His side was sending shock waves of pain every time he took a breath but he couldn't stop now.. The demon faced him across the chamber and for seconds neither of them moved. As one both man and demon charged each other. As they approached each combatant uttered a battle cry. The Blight's cry was a terrible roar that would haunt Xander for the rest of his life. Xander's cry was not what any spectator would have expected. He began to sing.

Xander was not the best of singers. He'd found this out during that Sweet fiasco a couple of years ago. But for this to work he needed to sing to focus. To key his blade for what he was about to do. He had no understanding of the Language he sang in but he knew what he was singing for. He sang for the past, he sang for the future, he sang for his life, he sang for strength, but most of all he sang for his Slayers. As he sang a trail of runes ran up the length of the blade spelling out the sword's name in a forgotten tongue.

The two warriors met in the center of the chamber the Demon swung both arms down in an over handed swing which, if it had connected, would have utterly destroyed the carpenter. Xander was faster though, he had rushed within the guard of the Demon, under it's giant arms, and thrust his sword with all of his might into the chest of the demon. After pushing through two and a half foot of almost solid muscle Xander felt the tell tale give signifying the demon had been run through. He heard a sharp rasp from the demon's mouth. He pulled his sword free and backed away from the Blight.

One massive hand pressed against the wound on it's chest, the Blight crouched down. As Xander watched the demon took several deep gulping breaths and the holes in it's back seemed to pulse. the slime flowed across the beast's body to fill in the wound Xander had left. Xander swore. He'd been sure that his sword, when keyed, would have made a difference. The demon stopped gulping down air and tensed as gas exploded from the exhaust port- Xander grinned.

* * *

"It's got the same weakness as the Death Star" Andrew shouted at the angry girl.

"Andy, Unless you start making sense in the next 3 seconds, I swear I am going to beat you to death with your keyboard!" Andrew sighed sometimes non-geeks just didn't understand the proper way to think. He was close to unleashing Dawn's inner geek but still...

"Look, In the original Star Wars film, the Death Star is this space station" he saw Dawn's glare deepen "And you already know this so I'll press on. The Death Star's only weakness was one of the exhaust port's. Luke had to shoot a torpedo down that pipe and it made the whole station blow up."

"So you're saying that Xander needs to stab this thing in one of those shoulder exhaust pipe things on it's back?"

"No no no, not at all, if you stab it there it will have a similar effect to stabbing it anywhere else. You need to block those passages up. That's how it breathes."

"So..Instead of shooting down them or attacking the back-gill things he needs to stop it from breathing?"

"Exactly"

"So...It's nothing like the Death Star at all then is it"

"Oh it is it's...Oh..." Dawn glared at her friend.

"Yeah..Oh."

* * *

It was so obvious now, he just had to think about the advice from Andrew's point of view. The thing was readying itself for another charge. He glanced around trying to find something he could use to block up the things back mouths. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the beast charging at him again. He wasn't prepared enough to neatly dodge or block the blow and so dived forward into the water. When his hands reached the floor he had his solution...a truly disgusting solution. Wincing he came up with a handful of brown 'sewage'

"Faith...You better damned well appreciate this..." Sword in one hand and...'sewage' in the other Xander waited for the thing to charge. He didn't have to wait long. The Blight charged forward at full speed. The Carpenter waited until the last minute before darting to the side. With his sword he slashed at the things legs and as it crumpled down to the floor he span around slapping the brown mess into one of the demon's openings. He danced back as the demon swung one it's massive arms at him and, when Xander was confident he was far enough away, reached down to pick up another handful of sewage. He looked back to the demon. It was healing again but, if he was any judge, a little slower than earlier.

The demon charged forward once more and Xander repeated his matador impression slapping down the sewage to seal another of the holes. This happened three more times and each time Xander could see the Demon was taking longer and longer to heal and it's charges were losing momentum. Eventually the Blight only had one of it's gills left unsealed. The demon charged once more, swinging at Xander weakly.

The one-eyed carpenter swung around to the demon's side, no longer bothering to hamstring the demon and slapped the brown mess into the demon's back.. He darted back once more holding his sword before him. The demon seemed to be choking. It seemed to be trying to swallow vast amounts of air through it's massive mouth but nothing seemed to be enough. It had fallen on it's side, only it's head and one arm remained above the cover of the sewage. The Carpenter waded back to the door to his trench coat. After rummaging in his pockets for several minutes he retrieved the two thermos flasks he'd taken with him.

He returned to the demon, it was panting in a manor which appeared almost pathetic. He raised the sword high above his head and, with runes glowing on the blade once more began to hack away at the demon's neck. It took him several swings but eventually he had cleaved through it's neck. Picking up the thermos flasks he began to fill them with the blood pumping from the dead demon's body. After he'd filled them both he returned to the door and shrugged back into the wet trench coat. He was covered in Sewage and Demon Blood. If he was honest, a wet trench coat barely made it onto his list when it came to physical discomfort.

* * *

"Do you think he made it?" Dawn growled. Andrew had been asking the question non stop for the past hour. Granted it had probably been a bad idea to point out that Andrew hadn't been helpful with Xander on the phone but his guilt had gotten to the point that Dawn was close to carrying out the threat she'd made earlier that night.

"I Don't Know." She spoke through gritted teeth. They were both back in the makeshift infirmary. The resistant Slayers had been doing an excellent job with taking care of their sick comrades but they needed a break. Dawn and Andrew had relieved them and were doing their best to take care of the Slayers. The victims who had come down with the sickness first had progressed through the 'thrashing about' phase and had moved on to a phase where they were as still as death. In Dawn's eyes she wished they were still moaning. It would have been less unnerving that the near silence of the room. Dawn and Andrew continued tending to their comrades for another twenty minutes when Andrew again broke the silence.

"Do you think he made it?" Dawn was prepared to turn and bellow at the demonologist when someone beat her to it.

"He made it." Dawn and Andrew span around to look at the older man. He'd left this evening in dry clean clothes, clean shaven and looking good. He'd come back later soaking wet, looking tired and a little flushed but still mostly clean. Now...His coat was at least mostly clean. The rest of him was a mish mash of greens and browns. Everything from his shoes to his hair was covered in this mixture of blood and slime. He was clutching his right side and wincing as he walked and in his other hand he clutched a pair of thermos flasks by their handles. Both of the teachers ran to him as if to capture him in a hug. He held them off at arms length holding out the flasks.

"Two Flasks of it's blood. Will that be enough" Andrew nodded quickly. "Hand it out" Both his friends noticed his wince at holding out his arms to them but his tone brooked no argument. They each took a flask and headed to the Slayers. Xander shrugged out of the trench coat and unbuckled his sword belt. He threw both against a wall, ignoring the squelching sound they made. He watched as Andrew and Dawn distributed the blood to his Slayers. He walked over to Faith's cot and eased himself down to the ground next to it. He could feel his temperature rising and a cold coming on but at this point he didn't care. He sat staring at his still friend. After a few minutes Dawn came past with the flask. He nodded at her appreciatively and she flashed back a small smile of understanding, while giving the medicine to faith, before carrying on to provide the next Slayer with their cure. Xander rested his elbows on his knees and placed his chin in his hands to stand vigil over Faith. He felt tired as hell but he wasn't goin' to sleep until he knew they were safe.

* * *

It was several hours later and he could see through the door that the sun had risen and was flooding the lobby. All of the other Slayers had risen and, at his instruction, had taken the day off studies to rest and recuperate. Only one Slayer had yet to awake.

Xander sat on a chair Andrew had brought him after it became clear that no amount of threats from Dawn or hints from the demonologist were going to move Xander from Faith's side. The others had been waking up for the past couple of hours, the cure had taken an hour to work through their systems and most of the Slayers were telling their teachers how fine they felt and that they didn't need a day off.

Reaching up he used his hand to wipe some sweat away from his forehead. He was aware he was running a temperature but at the moment he didn't care much. Looking down at his hand he saw it was still covered with the stains from the night's activities. He let his head fall forward so he was staring down at the floor, his shoulders slouched. She'd be awake any minute...she had to be. She was the strongest one here, if the rest had survived then there was no well she couldn't beat this. If he told himself that enough times he could almost believe it. Xander knew that if she died he wouldn't be able to manage this place. Dawn and Andrew were great help and he didn't know what he'd do if they left but Faith...without Faith he didn't believe he'd especially want to do this job. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the hand snake out from beneath the blanket and grasp his in a tight reassuring grip. He looked up, blinking away the tears that had threatened to spill over, as he looked down into a pair of grinning brown eyes.

"Geeze Xand ya look like shit."

* * *

"This hardly seems fair" Xander complained. He'd been forced upstairs and into his bed, after a hot shower of course, by the combined forces of the younger Slayers and the shouting of Faith. The brunette Slayer sat on the end of his bed eating an apple with a wicked grin on her features. "You guys are the one's with the life threatening disease, you guys are the ones who almost all died. But I'm the one who comes down with the flu and has to stay in bed.

"Tatchs ecoz ee erenut dupid-"

"Sorry Faith but my language skills don't carry across to apple speak." he grinned at her as she stuck her middle finger up and finished her mouthful.

"What I said, before I was interrupted, was That's because we weren't stupid enough to go runnin' around in a thunder storm wearin' only a crappy coat, shirt and pants." Xander crossed his arms and frowned across at the window where it had started to rain again.

"Just doesn't seem fair some how."

"Yeah well whoever says life's fair" She flashed him a grin and took another bite of her apple. She chewed thoughtfully before swallowing and saying "Maybe it's Karma."

"Karma?" Xander cried.

"Yeah, you broke the rules and now Karma's getting ya back."

"What rules did I break?" he exclaimed

"Have you beaten me in a fight yet?"

"Well...no."

"Then you broke the rules. You went out on field duty again."

"If I didn't you'd be dead."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?!" She flashed him her naughty girl grin.

"I'm tougher than I look Xand." He collapsed back against the pillows of his bed. There was no arguing with her when she was like this. He stared up at the ceiling.

"They're all okay?" She turned to smile at him.

"They're all fine. There's only one sick person in this hotel and I'm lookin' at him." He looked down to smile at her.

"Then I'll stop complaining."

"Probably for the best. If you were still moanin' in three mouthful's time I was goin' to throw this thing at ya" She gestured to the apple.

"Heaven protect me from Slayers armed with fruit." She grinned taking another mouthful.

"Damn straight." The pair of them sat in a companionable silence for a while. They'd gotten past the point when they felt the need to fill any silence with banter but still...neither of them were comfortable with long periods of quiet even when with people they trusted completely. "You remember when we were talkin' on the roof...after Jeeves offered us the job?" Xander nodded. "You said that Giles put you in charge as..somethin' to keep you out of trouble, and that you thought Robin should be in charge?"

"Yeah."

"Today you proved without any shadow of doubt that Giles picked the right man for the job. There's a handful of people in this world who'd have done what you've done for us..." She paused. This wasn't easy for her. "I guess what I'm tryin' to say is...thanks. Y'know. Pip told me what ya went through...what you were like...Thanks." She got up from the bed. If Xander didn't know better he'd swear that the Slayer was blushing slightly. She walked to the door and was stopped by his voice.

"Faith..." she turned to face him and for several long moments he didn't know what to say. It looked like he wanted to say something but in the end all he could say was "I'm glad You're feeling better." She smiled and walked back to his bed. Leaning down Faith planted a soft chaste kiss on his cheek.

"Get some rest Xand. Without you challengin' me every day I'll get rusty."

* * *

Cedric stepped into his master's study. Mr Gambler was very precise, every day, at eleven sharp he liked his morning tea, a slice of lemon, no milk, no sugar with a buttered scone. He laid the tray on the desk where is master sat reading the morning paper.

"Thank you Cedric." Cedric looked like he was about to move but decided against it he coughed slightly. The purple clad man looked up, peering over his glasses. "Was there something else Cedric?" The manservant paused for thought before nodding.

"I was wondering if I may be so bold as to ask a question Sir." Mr Gambler smiled indulgently.

"Ask away Cedric."

"I was wondering Sir, why go to the effort of summoning the Blight creature to the city if only to tell that young ruffian the way to kill it. Sir." Mr Gambler nodded and leaned back in his chair resting the newspaper on his lap.

"An interesting question and one I shall answer for you. Mr Harris and Ms Lehane's Slayers tip the balance somewhat in my City. We have yet to see what effects they will have at this time but it would be foolish of myself to not investigate this situation to try to predict how this will affect the status quo here. If the Slayers had been removed from the occasion then nothing here would have changed...as it is we have learnt just how far Mr Harris is willing to go to protect his charges. This too is useful information." Cedric nodded. "I trust this has answered your question?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. I'll have the poached salmon for lunch please Cedric."

"Very good sir."

**End of Episode One.**

**

* * *

Authors Notes:Well, so end's my first shot into the realm of Buffy Fanfic, hopefully it won't be the last, I've got 12 more episodes like this planned and will be getting started on Episode 2 soon.**

**With regard to Xander's Sword, this will be gone into later in the series, the concept is being borrowed from a series of books by Jennifer Robberson.**

**If you liked this, let me know, if you didn't like it, let me know. I would really like to get better at writing so any comments would be greatly appreciated.**

**me know, if you didn't like it, let me know. I would really like to get better at writing so any comments would be greatly appreciated.**


End file.
